So what is the color for bonehead?

They're the logical ones, according to the results of a brain-function test.

Consider this, Keith and Nate: No aspect of an $8,720 team-building boondoggle organized by Supervisor Scott Haggerty made a lick of common sense.

It's OK. Haggerty, who represents southern Alameda County, can't help it. He's a "green," the color that signifies a mind dominated by organization and detail.

Here's a detail worth remembering: This project was a waste of taxpayers' money.

Five elected officials and 27 county staffers -- from secretaries to managers -- took the test during a two-day retreat last year. The meeting was intended to help county offices work more efficiently.

Elected officials are adept enough at convincing voters to back them, so they should be able to make a point to their colleagues. If not, they should take professional development training on their own dime.

13th murder attributed to East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer suspect Joseph DeAngeloMedia: Tulare County District Attorney's Office

Lost in the FireMedia: Guy Wathen

Alameda County Fire Department video of a small plane that landed on the highway in HaywardMedia: Alameda County Fire Department

Food truck robbery in Los AngelesMedia: San Francisco Chronicle

CHP gives update on death of Officer Kirk GriessMedia: CHP Solano

The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument is only about $60 per person, but Kay Iwata Associates Inc., the Union City consulting firm that took the contract, charged $2,500 for its accompanying team-building program.

Of course there have been criticisms, but the fee is a pretty standard charge to private businesses, and county officials have largely shrugged it off as a minimal expense to acquire potentially useful information.

The test identifies which of four major brain functions -- logic, imagination, organization and a person's ability to work with others -- is the dominant force.

Each brain quadrant is assigned a color. Green represents a detailed mind. Red represents social skills, blue is logic and yellow is imagination.

About the only thing more petty than squabbling over a few thousand tax dollars is the absolutely irresponsible, childish way the board of supervisors squandered the money.

You would half expect a kid to take the $3 you gave them and buy enough gum to choke themselves, but watching elected officials fritter away tax dollars on a faux-bonding session is disappointing.

And when you consider that the same people control a $1.6 billion annual budget, the gravity of such a cavalier expenditure takes on a greater meaning.

Few people -- even the most frugal residents -- would begrudge an occasional retreat where supervisors and their staffs sit down and hash out ways of working more efficiently.

But to spend nearly $9,000 on a "Can't We Just Get Along?" seminar is unacceptable.

What's more, the nature of impassioned debate about important issues will sometimes spark a heated debate at a government meeting. That's supposed to happen, and no amount of color-tagged brain activity is going to change that.

And if some supervisors, because of their makeups, hold grudges long after the issue has been decided, perhaps they're in the wrong line of business.

Haggerty said the cost of the course was small compared with its benefit.

"If taking that course means that I can vehemently argue with Nate Miley on the dais one night and sit next to him on a plane and smile the next, then it's worth every penny," Haggerty said.

He chided the media for ignoring the sale of surplus county property in his district that has raised more than $250 million. "Our entrepreneurship is making money for residents of this county," he said.

As a rule, politicians are thick-skinned individuals who often possess some level of egotistical behavior. Both are sort of necessary built-in protections against having your best ideas publicly ridiculed.

But if you must test the waters before floating a trial balloon at a board meeting, maybe the supervisors should approve the purchase of mood rings, which can be bought online.

Mood rings have more colors, and while they provide none of the extensive detail that must have been imbedded in the rigorous training sessions, they have more categories.

Blue-green is for a somewhat relaxed person. Dark blue is for a happy, passionate person and so on.

The more I think about it, why should the board of supervisors be satisfied with a single opinion from one firm?

They could have their astrological signs researched and drawn up, individually and as a group. It's always good to consult the stars before making a good decision.

Because it's local government, and you want to back up all the decisions with as much science as you possibly can, an Ouija board or tarot card or palm reading might also be helpful.

All kidding aside, Sharon Eakes of Sewickly, Pa., a licensed user of the brain instrument, says such programs can have a "profound and lasting effect" on the way office mates work together.